Between The Crystals

Ch 35 Lapse in Judgement

It took more than a bit of convincing before Grant agreed to let me take the small cart. Ariel volunteered to take it on a second trip.

"Are you sure you want to go first?" Ariel asked as we waited for people to bring the smaller water cart.

"Yes. That way Grant will be too busy lecturing me to bother you when you return."

"I won't get far if my legs give out," she murmured, giving the cart a pensive look.

Porting the smaller water cart for her was like me taking a twelve-group before my abilities strengthened. I secretly suspected that her abilities had also increased unnoticed. Normally, she would have declined such a task, but everyone else had ported too close to their limits today for a round trip with a load like this.

Pain was never fun, and I didn't blame her for disliking the task she had reluctantly agreed to.

I patted her shoulder. "I'm not looking forward to it either. The small nap I had isn't going to do as much as I let Grant assume."

We passed several hunters, none of whom offered to come with us. Grant must have told them we were on the last of our strength.

"I've never done well with heavy loads. People are hard enough," she murmured, stopping a few paces away from the cart, which was waiting by the crystal.

I walked over to the crystal, held onto it, and looked back at Ariel, who was still fretting. Two villagers held onto the cart while waiting.

"Just look at the bright side," I told her. "If I don't come back, you get the joy of telling Grant you lost me!"

Her eyes widened. "Natalie! If you don't come back, I'm going to—"

Her words faded out as I directed my mind to Orange Flower without using the location name. The smaller cart was half the size of its bigger cousin and weighed less than a three-person group while empty, but it had been a long day, and what should have been an easy port had me leaning on the cart. I wasn't looking forward to the return trip.

The two men were already jogging for the creek, so I refocused on the task at hand and scanned the area for dangers while they worked. Birds flitted overhead and sang somewhere in the canopy.

When the cart was about half full, a flash of brown caught my attention, and I stared at the distant shrubs. Was it a rabbit? Possibly a bird? My imagination jumping at shadows?

Nothing moved. I remained alert, ready to call the two men back if something showed up. The shade of brown had been eerily similar to the Saursune I'd seen here a few times. If I wasn't being paranoid, and if there actually was a Saursune circling us, what was it doing? Just watching? Trying to figure out how to reach me before I could port away?

Minutes later, I caught another glimpse of brown, just as distant as the first sighting, which convinced me the first time hadn't been a trick of the mind.

"Keep working, but be ready to run if I holler," I told the two, my eyes not leaving the forest. "There's a Saursune circling, but it's the same one that just watched from a distance the last two times."

They paused and stared at me with big eyes, then looked around wildly. When they didn't see anything amiss, they stepped away from the cart with shaking hands. They darted to the river and hastily splashed the bucket into the water before racing back. Their knuckles were white as they held on the cart, gathering up their courage for another trip.

Then it dawned on me. Every time in the past, if a Saursune was spotted, people dropped everything and ran to the crystal to be ported away. Never before had a porter told them to keep working. When had I become so unconcerned by a Saursune's presence? Grant would undoubtedly give me a lecture on this one, and I'd completely deserve it.